Fulton Sheen–On Atheism

A few years ago my youngest son began to devour books I had inherited from my father.

The beautiful oak and glass bookcase that accompanied them sits prominently in our living room.

Nearly every book by Archbishop Fulton Sheen is in that library; also several cassette tapes.

Not too long after starting in on them, Marc came to me and said; “Dad, your blog title–spoofing atheists–is correct, Fulton Sheen believes the same thing.”

Little did Marc know that when I was his age, I poured through those same books, learning as much as I could about Christ, our relationship to God and the Bishop’s opinion about man.

Fulton Sheen was an expert on human nature; especially in its fallen state.

Today’s blog will end with a quote from the Bishop, which says, in a far more eloquent manner, that “Atheists are faking.”

I sound like a fool…he sounds like an Archbishop.

“As all men are touched by God’s love, so all are also touched by the desire for His intimacy. No one escapes this longing; we are all kings in exile, miserable without the Infinite. Those who reject the grace of God have a desire to avoid God, as those who accept it have a desire for God. The modern atheist does not disbelieve because of his intellect, but because of his will; it is not knowledge that makes him an atheist…The denial of God springs from a man’s desire not to have a God—from his wish that there were no Justice behind the universe, so that his injustices would fear not retribution; from his desire that there be no Law, so that he may not be judged by it; from his wish that there were no Absolute Goodness, that he might go on sinning with impunity. That is why the modern atheist is always angered when he hears anything said about God and religion—he would be incapable of such a resentment if God were only a myth. His feeling toward God is the same as that which a wicked man has for one whom he has wronged: he wishes he were dead so that he could do nothing to avenge the wrong. The betrayer of friendship knows his friend exists, but he wished he did not; the post-Christian atheist knows God exists, but he desires He should not.” (Peace of Soul)